Pundit View: Dele Alli situation changes by the second amid Tottenham-Everton development
Dele Alli situation changes by the second amid Tottenham and Everton financial development
We’re delighted to welcome former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson as our exclusive columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium…
Paul Robinson “can’t see favours being done” amid talks between Everton and Tottenham over the terms of Dele Alli’s move.
ESPN reported on 6 November that the two sides were discussing a possible restructuring of the deal that took the former England star to Goodison Park two seasons ago [Sky Sports], with a £10m payment due after seven more appearances which the Toffees will struggle to afford.
But after Sean Dyche’s side were hit by a 10-point penalty for a profit and sustainability breach Robinson expects Dele will now be the “least of their worries” and expects the 27-year-old simply won’t be played to avoid triggering the fee.
Speaking exclusively to Tottenham News he said: “I think that situation is changing by the second because Everton have just been deducted 10 points. The fact that that’s happened to them I would expect a lot of their transfer business, a lot of their dealings, to be put on hold until an appeal comes out or there’s a revisiting of the sanction.
“I just think that for the whole of the Everton world at the moment a stone has been dropped in the sand. At the moment the sand is coming up in the water and it’s a bit of a mess there. You don’t know what’s going to happen behind the scenes.
“I think Dele Alli’s probably the least of their worries in all honesty. They’ve got a lot of other issues that they need to address.
“From Tottenham’s point of view. He’s not playing regularly for Everton, and the loan move to Turkey didn’t work for him either. It’s business. I can’t see favours being done.
“But on the other hand, you flip it from an Everton point of view, you can’t see them playing him. They’ll probably just bunker down, not play him and avoid any extra payments.
“As much as people don’t think that goes on, it does. You look at players on appearance money, players that are on bonuses after a certain amount of games. If they’re not involved in the manager’s thought process you will get left out for financial reasons. It happened to me at the end of my career.”
Tottenham are said to be unhappy that Everton tried to blame them for a £20m shortfall in the fee they received for Richarlison in their case to the independent commission [Daily Mail, 20 November] and are less likely to strike a new deal on the Dele situation as a result.
On principle, Daniel Levy therefore might not be minded to provide any sort of assistance to the turmoil-hit Toffees, but if he harbours any hopes of getting anything back from the midfielder’s exit he might as well.
If Dyche is obliged not to pick the former Spurs star then no money will come through either way, so even from a purely business perspective it would be better to hand Dele a route back and push compensation further down the line.
In other Tottenham news, an exit-linked first-team player has been tipped to thrive at a big club if he leaves.
